So let’s give kudos to Mayor Gavin Newsom for enabling Sunday Streets in San Francisco. Read all about it, below.

See you next year!

“MAYOR NEWSOM ANNOUNCES SUNDAY STREETS BECOMES PERMANENT PROGRAM”

“San Francisco, CA—Days before the final 2009 Sunday Streets event on
September 6, Mayor Gavin Newsom today announced the continuation of this
popular event as a permanent program in San Francisco.

“This Sunday’s event is the finale for 2009, but Sunday Streets will be
back in 2010 with more routes, longer hours, more San Francisco
neighborhoods and more programs at each event,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom.
“We have created a new tradition in San Francisco that will improve our
quality of life for years to come.”

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), co-sponsor of
Sunday Streets 2009, will be the lead agency for the Sunday Streets program
starting in 2010. The San Francisco Mayor’s Office will continue to provide
leadership support for the program, and Livable City, a sustainable
transportation advocacy non-profit, will continue as the fiscal sponsor.

“The SFMTA has been proud to join with our City partners and Livable City
to promote healthy family outdoor activities this summer. Working together
on programs like Sunday Streets, we can increase the use of sustainable
transportation to protect the environment and to ensure the City’s
sustainability for future generations,” said Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., SFMTA
Executive Director/CEO.

Sunday Streets creates safe, fun car-free space on City streets that give
San Francisco residents and visitors an opportunity to get out and get
active. Temporarily closing some streets to automobile traffic opens them
to people for walking, cycling, skating and playing. Sunday Streets events
create a stronger sense of community in every neighborhood they touch and
throughout the City.

San Francisco’s program began in 2008 with two inaugural events. This year
Sunday Streets featured six events along four different routes throughout
the City: April 26 from Fisherman’s Wharf to AT&T Park along The
Embarcadero; May 10 from AT&T Park to the Bayview neighborhood along the
Bay Trail; two events in the heart of the Mission District on June 7 and
July 19 (the latter coincided with the SF Symphony’s free concert in
Dolores Park); and the last two near the ocean, with a route through Golden
Gate Park and along the Upper Great Highway on August 9 and September 6.

So my Kawasaki Ninja (I kept telling them that it’s just a 600) isn’t welcome but this gas-powered “go-ped” is? Mmmmm

A tow is always nice when you’re skateboarding on the Great Highway:

Plenty of engineers around…

And a bit of a wait for the N Judah at the end of the day, but oh well.

Yes DPW was fairly agressive about getting traffic moving again at 2:00 PM and yes, some cars trying to get across GGP were a-honking after waiting a while for the flow of bikes to stop, but all in all, everything seemed to work out.